The saying, “May you live in interesting times,” has often been attributed to Robert Kennedy, who referred to it as an “ancient Chinese curse.” The saying has an extensive history. (See “Quote Investigator” for details.) Regardless of the saying’s history, war, rumors of war, and civil unrest are more “interesting” than times of peace and prosperity. At present (April 2019), we have a lot of civil unrest, not only in the States, but also in many places around the world. We also have wars (and rumors of wars) in many parts of the world. In fact, we have pretty much . . . → Read More: Living in Interesting Times
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 Comments are closed  Blog  1984, Abel, ancient Chinese, Bible, Brave New World, Cain, China, Christian, Chrystal Blue Persuasion, civil unrest, conflict, crystal blue persuasion, curse, Eden, end-of-times, English, genetic manipulation, Great Wall of China, human aggression, Interesting Times, Irish, Korea, political factions, population growth, Robert Kennedy, rumors of war, Scotts, Shondells, Steven Pinker, Tommy James, Vietnam, Vietnam War, wars, WWII As everyone who ever read 1984 knows, George Orwell understood the importance of truth. In these times of Trump, it is worth revisiting what Orwell had to say about societies where “truth” is what the government says it is. For some relevant quotations, see George Orwell on truth. Verifiable honesty on the part of politicians is rare. I am old enough to remember . . . → Read More: 1984 Redux Comments are closed Blog 1960s, 1984, ancestors, Apian Way, Civil Rights, climate change, crucifixion, fossil fuels, George Bush, George Orwell, gerrymandering, gladiator, global mean temperature, global warming, government, political purpose, protests, resistance is futile, Richard Nixon, rising sea levels, Rome, sit-ins, Spartacis, Tennyson, The Borg, Trump, truth, Ulysses, War in Vietnam Alice entered Wonderland by falling down a rabbit hole that led to a strange and metaphorical adventure. Whether the United States has collectively fallen down a rabbit hole or whether politics have always been bizarre isn’t clear (at least to me), but we currently seem to have entered a time when the . . . → Read More: Down the Rabbit Hole Comments are closed Blog 1984, Alice, Alice in Wonderland, alternative reality, communist, democracy, dragons, dystopian, Eugene Ionesco, George Orwell, heroes, if not now when, If not us who, kings, Latvia, Mad Hatt4er, Nazis, rabbit hole, Rhinoceros, Starship Troopers, troops, well-regulated militia Although all presidential elections in the US are “historic,” our most recent election will probably go down in history as the most historic of all. As most of you already know, the election featured the first woman candidate to be nominated by a major political party, and the first major oligarch who pretended to be the candidate of the people. It also featured more—a lot more—of the usual yelling and screaming—and sometimes punching and shoving—than most US presidential contests. One of the influencing factors was, of course, accomplishments of President Obama, many resented him because he was the first . . . → Read More: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Coronation Comments are closed Blog 1984, Aliens, Blacks, buggy whips, cancer, Christ, Clinton, coal, coastal states, Divergent, dystopian, election, fear, female, flyover states, gas, global climate change, global warming, hate, Hispanics, history, Hitler, holocaust, Hunger Games, Indians, Interesting Times, manufacturing, Maze Runner, Mexicans, Mideast, Native Americans, oil, Old Testament, oligarch, presidential, race-based hate, Rapture, Second Coming, slavery, surgery, technologies, Trump, war, woman, WWI, WWII |
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